


High Hopes

by FlyRobinFly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Depressed Theo Raeken, He's going through somethings, Post-Canon, Theo Raeken Needs a Hug, Theo smokes weed, Weed, except he's not one, he would make a cool stoner, hopelessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-07 03:36:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18612319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyRobinFly/pseuds/FlyRobinFly
Summary: When Theo comes into English class late but not so fashionable, Liam knows something's wrong.





	High Hopes

**Author's Note:**

> I'm wondering if you guys will understand the title in relation to the story. Honestly, I feel really proud of how clever it is.
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy

Liam was sitting in his English class right after lunch. Everything had been fine. It seemed like a normal day… which should have concerned him because there was always something weird. But as the teacher took attendance and everyone was present except for Theo, he found that a bit odd. It wasn’t incriminating or anything. Just… suspicious.

Liam ignored that feeling though and tried to listen to the teacher.

“Did anyone start reading the Old Man in the Sea?” she asked her students as she came around the front of her desk and leaned against it. She looked out among her students and wasn’t at all surprised when none of them raised their hands. She didn’t let it phase her. “That’s alright. We’ll go over the first chapter in class. If everyone could open their books to chapter one and you’ll take turns reading.”

Everyone grumbled as they pulled out their books, flipping through the pages when the door opened. In came Theo wearing the hoodie he’d borrowed from Liam and never gave back with the hood up and a pair of rimless sunglasses that didn’t exactly scream ‘Theo’. Which was odd since Theo tended to be extremely fashionable… especially when he was late!

“Good morning, Mrs. Reynolds,” he said with a bit of a crooked grin as he slowly made his way over to the desk next to Liam’s.

Liam saw the skeptical look on the teacher’s face when Theo walked past her. She pointed out, “It’s afternoon, Mr. Raeken.”

Theo plopped his backpack next to his desk and he chuckled. “My bad,” he said and then sat down, pushing his sunglasses up his nose before looking up at the teacher. “Good afternoon.”

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Take the sunglasses off. We’re inside.”

Liam knew Theo had a bit of an attitude but recently he’d been holding back. And he never used it with his teachers. He wanted all of his teachers to adore him so he kissed ass. This wasn’t kissing ass. But something certainly smelled like ass.

When Theo pulled down his sunglasses, Liam looked over at him. That smell, it was… weed? Was Theo stoned?

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch crunch crunch._

Oh my god, Liam thought. Theo is high!

Once Theo started munching away on some hot Cheetos, the teacher finally approached him with a smile on her face. She crouched down next to him and set her book on her table, pulling his hood back and off of his head. “Here, Theo. Why don’t you start off our reading today? Go ahead and turn to page one and read the entire first paragraph for us.”

Theo sucked the red powder off of his fingers and grabbed the book. At this point, almost everyone in the class knew what was going on. The corner’s of Theo’s lips turned up when he heard snickering, noticing he was the center of attention. So he flipped through the pages, trying to hard to find page one. And when he did, he started reading.

“He was an old man,” Theo said stopping right away because for some reason that was funny. “Who fished alone in a… skiff in the Gulf Stream-” Theo’s cheeks rose up making him squint really hard while he tried not to laugh, the biggest smile Liam had every seen Theo wear. “...and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”

And that’s where the class lost it. Theo could barely get through the first sentence but once he did, the teacher rubbed his backed and closed the book for him. “It’s not so easy to learn when you’re high, is it?”

Theo shook his head. “I’m not high.”

“Then why do you smell like weed?” she asked. She was actually very gracious. She didn’t yell. She wasn't condescending. She was caring.

Theo wasn’t though. He just shrugged and offered her some hot Cheetos which made the class laugh. But Liam wasn’t laughing. No. He didn’t find this funny. Theo was part werewolf. He shouldn’t be able to get high. Unless he had a lot, and I mean a lot, of weed. But why would Theo do that?

~~~

_The pain of loneliness was getting to be too much for Theo. He literally had no one because no one gave a fuck about some kid who used to murder people even if it wasn’t entirely their fault and they felt really bad about it. Like really bad about it. Theo hated himself so much. Like so much._

_During lunch, he went out to his truck to pretend to eat because he couldn’t afford to buy school lunch. He coughed in disgust when he smelled weed. He wondered why someone would possibly want to smoke weed and it got him thinking._

_His life sucked. He fucking hated his life. Maybe what he needed was a little sweet release. So when the stoner kids offered him a hit, he took it._

_...and after that one hit, he found himself needing more. The stoner kids thought it was hilarious how much he could take at once. But Theo knew that with his metabolism if he wanted the effects to last, he’d really have to get stoned._

_He hadn’t felt so relaxed and free in years. He felt like a feather floating in the wind and he justed wanted to hug himself and eat some junk food. After he went to class._

_“Dude, you can’t go back in there,” one kid warned him. “You’re gonna smell like weed.”_

_Theo assured him he would be fine. He tried to be. He went to the bathroom and sprayed himself with cologne and washed his face. Everything felt so amazing. And he was so hungry! Even though he didn’t have the money for it, he went to the vending machine and shook out a bunch of snacks, stuffing all of them in his backpack. Then he noticed his eyes in the reflection of the glass. He looked fucked up._

_He went around pounding lockers until he found a pair of sunglasses that would have to do for now. He was confident that no one would suspect a thing._

~~~

“Did somebody pressure you into smoking weed, Theo, or did you do it on your own?” the teacher asked, still rubbing gentle circles on Theo’s back. When Theo shrugged again, she sighed looked at him sympathetically. “Theo, why’d you do it, sweetheart? Have you been feeling ok?”

This time, Theo’s shrug was little heavier. And Liam could see it now. Theo hadn’t gotten high just for fun. He’s not a stoner. He wanted an escape but that escape was already wearing off.

“You’re not gonna get in trouble this time but you have to go to the office and talk to the principal, alright?” she said, standing up and giving Theo’s shoulder a shake. “Alright, will you get your things together and stand up, please? I’m gonna take you down to the office.”

Liam watched as they left, the class immediately going up in chatter to talk about the latest scandal. But Liam felt bad.

~~~

Theo sat in the principal’s office, ready to fall asleep while she talked to him. “Well, I can’t call your parents because you don’t have any. I don’t want to get the police involved on your first offense. Can’t even take you home because your home is in the parking lot right now. So you’re gonna have to hang out with me for the rest of the day. You’re not getting your keys back until your sober again.”

Theo nodded. He was starting to sink.

“So…” Mrs. Martin said. “Why are you high?”

Theo blinked at her tiredly. “I smoked a lot of weed.”

“Did you get what you wanted out of it?” she asked looking at him thoughtfully.

He scooted himself further down the chair, shrinking as the high started leaving and he started hating himself again. He sighed at the realization that there wasn’t hope anymore, not for him. He shook his head. “Only for a little bit.”

~~~

After school, Liam went to check on Theo. He was asleep in the nurse's office and he still smelled like pot. But he waited there until he woke up.

“I’m taking you home,” Liam told him once he was sitting up.

Theo smacked his tongue around in his mouth, squinting at Liam through his red eyes. “Home?”

Liam offered him a glass of water. “My house. Your new home.”

Maybe there was hope for Theo after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you get the title? Do you get it?
> 
> Sorry, I'm just so proud of it rn.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you liked this little treat!


End file.
